Marketing the Vision Behind VISION

SoftSmile is a New York-based technology company that helps orthodontists to deliver custom, high-quality, and affordable treatment to their patients. Established in 2020, SoftSmile’s VISION  is an advanced, AI-driven orthodontic software that applies innovative algorithms based on sound biomechanical and mathematical principles in a user-friendly interface. AI technology in dentistry is helping to diagnose dental issues more accurately, improve treatments, and streamline procedures.

We spoke with Zoё Barnstone about her important role as the Marketing Manager for SoftSmile. She told us about the approach she has taken in marketing and communications for the company in a crowded and competitive marketplace. 

How has your approach to marketing SoftSmile and VISION changed over the last 2-3 years and why?

Our goals at SoftSmile have changed over the years I’ve worked here and VISION has developed significantly as a product, so we’ve adjusted our marketing strategies to reflect those changes. For instance, we’ve become very focused on educating our potential customers on how our technology works and why our use of automation is going to make a significant difference in their practice. We’re dealing with complicated math and science, so I’ve honed in on how to best translate that to our audience. We’ve found that our audience strongly engages with learning more about our features and hearing from people on our team about how and why we’ve developed the technology we have. 

What marketing tactics have been most successful in the past year?

Webinars have by far been the most successful along with thought leadership from our CEO. People want to hear from us and they do want to have a face and a name to attach to the amazing technology they see from us. 

How have you successfully marketed specifically to the orthodontic market?

We know that finding the right treatment planning software is a major pain point for people. We can speak directly to how we fill the gap in the market by demonstrating the benefits of our features and emphasizing the ways we are continually improving and adding to VISION to benefit the end user. 

How have you used platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube to connect with and engage key audiences?

On LinkedIn, people consistently engage with the content we share that highlights all of VISION’s features and benefits, but they also really love to hear from Khamzat and other members of the SoftSmile team. LinkedIn is definitely our biggest platform and I hope to be able to offer our audience more thought leadership in the future. On YouTube, we’ve had a lot of success with demos and tutorials with voiceovers and captions. We know that YouTube is a learning resource for many people in the industry and we’ve learned to tap into that. 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a marketer in 2023?

I’ve learned not to be afraid of AI platforms like Copy.AI or ChatGPT, especially for marketers working in the tech industry. I think these tools can help with the more tedious parts of a marketing job and/or can be sources of inspiration for content creators. Marketing is an inherently humanistic profession and in order to be successful in it you have to have a large amount of emotional intelligence. ChatGPT and other AI platforms can help us tell the stories that are going to appeal to our audiences, just in terms of putting pen to paper, but I don’t think they understand the nuances of human emotion enough to tell stories that will resonate, not yet anyway. For now, they can scrape data from across the web and regurgitate all of it in clear and concisely written sentences, which can save us all a lot of time. 

Zoё serves as the Marketing Manager at SoftSmile and is responsible for marketing and communications for the company and VISION.